>> Monday, December 7, 2009

See, I haven't updated lately because I've been busy spending time with a girl. Yes, let the speculation rise. And that is a perfectly legitimate excuse, because girls are way more important than a blog. Perhaps not more important that calling your mother, though. Sorry.

>> Friday, November 6, 2009

An excerpt of a larger personal essay I'm currently developing:

We typically speak of perfection in terms of being flawless or without error. Indeed, Merriam-Webster.com’s first definition of perfect is “being entirely without fault or defect”. Definition 1b is perhaps the better description to keep in mind while discussing finding the perfect girl. It reads, “Satisfying all requirements”. Another states “lacking in no essential detail”. Perhaps those two combined gives us the best definition of what ‘perfect’ is when considering a spouse. Perfect girl – one who meets all the needs that you have. A girl whom you love despite her flaws, because the flaws really don’t matter. It’s exactly who she is that makes her perfect to you.

>> Thursday, October 29, 2009

I got called out by my mom the other day for not writing in my blog for two weeks. So here, mom! Here's your stinking blog post!!!

But seriously, it's kinda been a crazy few weeks so I haven't taken much time to post. Let's start three weeks ago, Conference weekend. I am hanging out with some friends until about midnight, and decided to go to bed because I had to clean the church the next morning. I had a bit of an upset stomach, but I figured it was just something I ate. Come two in the morning, I woke up from some crazy, crazy dreams, which means that I'm about ready to hurl. Rush to the bathroom, and WHABAM!! Ice cream in the toilet. Give it another 10 or so minutes, and WHOOOSH!!! half digested ice cream in the toilet. I'll spare you the details, but every half hour or so I was back in the bathroom, and I ran out of ice cream pretty quickly and switched over to bile.

By the next morning, all my roommates had been woken up at least once by my gastrointestinal escapades, and I was so entirely drained of fluids that I was feeling sick because of it. Which really didn't help my original nausea. At any rate, I had my roommates buy me some apple sauce and soda in hopes of getting at least a little energy back. I had to take tiny sips and nibbles of stuff or else I would start heaving again. So it took me a very very long time to get any sort of energy back. Suffice it to say, I didn't clean the church. And I tried to listen to conference, but I was mostly incoherent for the day, so I didn't get much out of it.

A couple weeks go by and I find out one of my roommates has Swine Flu. YAY! I figure I'm immune since I got so deathly sick just a couple weeks ago. Well, the next day comes, and another roommate drops the the Swine flu. And then the next day I get sick, but not as sick as the other roommates, which was really good because I had a concert to go to. Ingrid Michaelson, but more on that to come. I suffered through a thursday at work, and just couldn't find it in myself to make it to work on Friday, so I stayed home and slept. Saturday, the big concert, and I wasn't feeling 100%, but well enough to go to this concert, because it was pretty much the best concert ever.

I met up with some people from my old branch and Ingrid pretty much rocked out socks off. If you haven't heard of her, look her up, because she is seriously one of my favorite artists of the past few years. I'm sure going to the concert didn't help my sickness, because the next day I was pretty exhausted. I can't describe to you how so, so, so, so, so worth it it was, though. That was the most fun I had experienced in a long time.

>> Monday, October 12, 2009

I've decided that Sundays are pretty much the beginning of my workweek now, and here's why. The following is a breakdown of Sunday, October 11th:

I wake up at 6 to get ready for my 7 AM EQ Presidency Stake training. That goes until about 8:15, and then I come home and type out a letter for the Stake President because he is teaching EQ in a couple weeks at Ward Conference. I also gather all the announcements and prepare an agenda for EQ that day so my counselor can conduct.

Right after I finish I go right back to the church so I can find the program person to find out if there are any other announcements I'm missing. Also needed to chat with the RS President. I get stopped by four different people on my way back to the Priesthood room, causing me to get in the room only one minute before 9. Church for three hours. Two setting aparts, ward choir, PEC AND Ward Council afterward takes me to about 3:15. I finally get to go home, and I make some rice to eat for a sorta-lunch. Then EQ Presidency meeting at 4, which goes to about 5:15.

After organizing the 20 or so papers I got througout the day, I hop on facebook and check it for a few minutes, then decided that I haven't read my book lately. So I pull that out, read a chapter, doze off with it on my chest until about 6:55, and run to the church because I have Stake Choir practice at 7. It should have ended at 8 but went until 8:30. I immediately run to my friends house because he invited me to dinner. I got there right in time, which was nice.

Delicious Chicken Courdon Bleu with homemade gravy to die for. Anyway, at that time, it was almost 9, so I had Ward Prayer. That was actually pretty fun this time. We played Never Have I Ever. But anyway, after that I head back to my friends because we still had cake to eat.

I had made plans to go over to another friends house because he got new songs for Rock Band.

So after eating cake and playing Settlers of Zarahemla for a while, I went over to my other friends and played Rock Band until a little after midnight, then was up talking with them until about 1 AM. After that I finally went to bed.

>> Friday, September 18, 2009

My finish photo can be found here.I'd post it here, but if I try to copy it it tells me I'm a thief.Also, my official stats are as follows: 23:35 was my official time.Overall I was 34th place. For the men I placed 31st. For age 25-29 I placed 4th. 4TH! One spot away from winning a prize!!! Granted, I would have needed to run 1:51 faster to beat the next guy in my age group, but still. It's the thought that I was that close. Next year, I promise to be better.

>> Sunday, September 13, 2009

Well, I finally ran my 5k this weekend, and I'm pleased with my result. I had planned on coming in at about 25 minutes, based off some workouts recently.As you can see, I was pretty much bottled lightning. So fast that the camera couldn't capture me. In reality, Lisa was borrowing her friends camera and it didn't perform as admirably as one would hope. But it mostly got the job done. My watch clocked me at 23:37, so I was about a minute and a half faster than I planned. Woohoo!! I actually really enjoyed the course, with one exception. There is a really small hill at the end you turn a corner and you have literally 25 meters to go, so if you don't know the course very well, you have a hard time knowing when exactly to give a last good push. But oh well. Maybe next year.

Most of you who read this probably know already, but I'm the new EQP in my ward. After a month of waiting, it finally became official today. Weird, scary, exciting. And that's pretty much all I have to say on that.

>> Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hooookay, it's been a couple weeks since I posted last. I was doing so well at one post a week for a while. I'm sorry for disappointing all of you. Let's move on though, shall we?

Mt. Timpanogos. A well-known landmark of Utah Valley, and the second highest peak of the Uintas. Perhaps the most hiked peak in Utah, one would think that due to it's popularity, it would by necessity be a fairly easy hike. You would be wrong, fyi. It's no Y hike. Do not bring your children on this hike unless they are super-human. Let me stop here and give you a little back story.

During FHE, a guy in my ward invited anyone who wanted to come on a midnight hike of Mt. Timp so we would be up there in time for the sunrise. Sounds pretty decent, I thought. Forgo a little sleep for a nice sunrise on a mountain top. So I pulled out the old Camelbak and prepared every needful thing (As a sidenote, it always seems like every time I go on a hike with dad, he manages to put every thing you might ever need into his pack. On this trip, I felt like dad, because I could have supplied my group with jerky, trail mix, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, duct tape, and fruit snacks all by myself). I took a nice two hour nap on friday evening to prepare for being up late. We had planned on being on the trail by midnight, but a friend of a guy in my group was going to join us with his friends, and they were running late, and then they led us up a road that we didn't really need to go up, so then we had to drive back down. After all was said and done, it was 12:45 when we started. But no biggie, really.

The friend-of-a-friends group started out at a breakneck pace, quite faster than I was really willing to go, so the friend-of-a-friend (hereafter referred to as FOF) group ditched us on their quest to conquer the mountain as quickly as possible. Since it was dark, we didn't exactly get great pictures to start off with:If you look closely, there is a waterfall behind all the mist that my camera so expertly captured.

At any rate, we moved along nicely by the light of our flashlights, being rather oblivious of the sheer cliff faces we hiked next to. We were all in rather good spirits until about 3 AM, when my body finally started telling me that it would rather be sleeping than hiking up a mountain just to see some measly sunrise. Undeterred, I shoved some trail mix in my mouth, sucked on my water, and kept chugging. We finished a long section of switchbacks and found ourselves in a field of sorts, though since we couldn't see it very well it was hard to appreciate.

The trail at that point had decided that any hiker passing through would have had a good enough rest, so threw some random hills in, causing me to have the need to literally use my hands to push my legs up one particular section, and if it weren't for the fact that we were so far along, I may have just given up right then.I'm starting to wonder what I've gotten myself into.

My hiking mates convinced me to continue, and we slowly made our way through some perma-snow and up to a ridge called The Saddle, which gives a gorgeous view of Utah Valley.You could actually see a portion of the Salt Lake Valley as well, but I didn't have anything to stabilize my camera with, so it turned out to be a blurry mess. In fact, I stole this pic from my friend because it turned out better than mine. At this point in the hike, it's about 5 AM, and you have just hiked about 6 miles. You have a nice little vista, and a perfect place to watch the sunrise. But nooooo, there are still about 400 feet of elevation you need to go before you can rest, so you suck down some water and chomp on a granola bar and off you go. Nearly one hour later, you reach the top with some little metal shack and a form you can sign, proving you made it to the top. My first though was roughly as follows: "What person in their right mind would take the time to construct a fairly sturdy metal shack at the height of nearly 12,000 feet? I mean, seriously?"

So your body is just screaming for sleep, but you manage to sign the register, then throw on the jacket and gloves you brought up with you because it is cold up there. I think I managed to doze off for about two minutes, but that was enough for me to make it through. We eventually situated in a different spot so we could get a good view of the sunrise coming up over Heber, and settled down for some snacks and conversation.Nothing like cold water and trail mix for breakfast at 11,000 feet with 100 other people. Seriously, there was an insane amount of people there at the summit, with about 30 or so more staying at the Saddle for the sunrise.We were in the middle, so this is about half the people that were there. And yes, some people were actually hanging out at the top with just a t-shirt and shorts on. How they managed, I don't know. But we hung out for a while, I took the time to pop the blister on each of my heels, duct taped them up, and popped the shoes back on. We all decided that we were ok with not physically seeing the sun come over the horizon, so at about 6:45 we left the summit to beat the crowd.The sun got a little closer than this image, but I was busy with my heels and didn't snap a last pic before we left.

If you have ever hiked anything somewhat significant before, you know that going down can be just as painful as going up. Well, that held true for this hike, perhaps moreso. Imagine using up all your energy in the middle of the night, then being asked to hike down a thousand feet or so of elevation on absolutely no sleep. Good times. We managed to snap a shot just before the sun came up, and it turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself.And finally, here is the sun in all it's glory at 11,000 feet:The picture really doesn't do this view justice, but such is the nature of photographs. Once the sun came out, we of course were able to see our surroundings finally and it really is a great view throughout the hike. It was kinda like doing two hikes in one since we couldn't see anything on our way up. I'll cut out some scenery shots due to space, but I'll have the full set uploaded to Facebook, or you can just ask me to show it to you when I'm around.

Suffice it to say, we were all exhausted, so we decided to hike down to a shack that was built near Emerald Lake, a small lake that is basically fed off the perma-snow up there. As we drew closer, we came upon something unexpected:Mountain Goats! There was a herd of 50 or so there, which was pretty neat. We went to the shack to take a nap while waiting for a couple others in our group. Between the light, the sounds of the hikers, and the utter fear of a goat coming up and nibbling on me, I didn't sleep, but rather chose to take a few photos of the surroundings.

Once our group finally met up together, we again started down the mountain, with a loooooong way to go. The hike down is excruciating not only because of your joints and muscles screaming in exhaustion at every impact of your feet, but because it feels like an eternity. The parking lot didn't seem like it got closer for hours. We knew we were making progress when we got close to the waterfall again, though.Here we met back up with the FOF group, who had passed us as we napped higher up the mountain. I took the time to get a little artsy and capture falling water. I also downed an entire bag of peach rings in preparation of the last 20 minutes down.

10 1/2 hours after we first started, we made it to the car. And let me tell you, at that point, lying down in the back seat was as near to heaven as I think I've ever been. Conveniently, I finished my water right at the bottom of the hill. Pretty good timing, don't you think? Once I got home, I took a very thorough shower, climbed in bed at about noon, and didn't get out of bed until 8. I then got up and ate a peanut butter sammich, drank some water, and attempted to sleep again. I couldn't, so I watched a bit of The Office, then went to sleep, and didn't wake up until 7:30 Sunday. It was a glorious way to spend 20 hours.

So all in all, the injuries I got were a blister on each of my heels, a cut hand from falling on the snow (one of a few times I fell going down, actually. Darn shoes are losing their touch), two slightly tweaked ankles, a slightly tweaked left knee, and very tired muscles. Not too bad for a 14 mile round trip hike.

>> Saturday, August 15, 2009

Well, I've been living down here in Utah for just over three months now, and have been working out for two of those months. I recently hiked the Y again, this time with a couple friends who have never done it. It was so much easier to do this time, I can't even tell you. That was really good for me to do, because it's given me an idea of how much I've improved over the past two months. I've also been tracking my weight, and last I weighed I was 189, almost 15 pounds lighter than two months ago. I've had a hard time noticing that weight loss other than by the fit of my clothes. I haven't had any pictures taken of me where I could put some side by side to take a look until now. I present to you the comparison of two pictures:On the left, we have my Y hike from Memorial Day this year. On the right, my Y hike from the 4th of August. If that comparison isn't motivation to keep with it, I don't know what is.And here's that new pic in all of it's glory, just because it turned out so good:

>> Sunday, August 9, 2009

It's been a rather significant week for me. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Ok, the bad news it is.

I got Utah License Plates. It's really a tragedy that I can't explain adequately in words. Something you have to experience yourself to truly feel the weight of.

Second, I got a job! Though most of you know this already, I still wanted to put it up here because it's so freaking awesome that I finally have one. It's for a company called Quomation. They do software for independent insurance agencies that helps compare and collect quotes for their customers. I'm in tech support. Hooray!

As mentioned in a previous post, I want to run a 5k before the summer is over, and I've made my choice on which one. It's a 5k/10k in Layton on Sept 12th. So mark your calendars, I expect everyone to be there to cheer me on!!

>> Monday, July 27, 2009

This place may change daily until I decide on something I really like. So visit often to see myself make up my mind. Also, I'd like to draw your attention to the new fish on the side. What do you think? Kinda simple, but I figured some of you might get bored and find it entertaining enough to steal a few minutes. Honestly, it has for me already.

>> Sunday, July 19, 2009

A funny thing happens to you when you start working out on a regular basis. Old clothes start to fit better. You don't get winded by climbing the stairs to your apartment. That hill doesn't look nearly as menacing. Your jaw starts coming back. It's as if you are manipulating the fabric of space-time itself! I highly recommend it.

>> Monday, July 13, 2009

Ho. ly. cow. I can't explain to you how happy I am to be done with my Algebra class. Thursday I spent nearly all day doing homework and doing a test. Friday I took some time off and went to Eric and Jenn's to watch their kids (more on that in a moment), Saturday I spent time doing homework, working on a take-home test and also studying for the final, Sunday was nearly six hours of homework, finishing my take-home, and studying for the final. Somehow I managed to keep my brain from liquefying through all this. It got so bad that I literally dreamed of math last night. Equations were floating through my head and everything. Then came the final today:

I walked in and sat down, pulled out my take-home, and just started chuckling. This happened at regular intervals throughout the test. I'm sure it seemed very odd to my classmates, but I couldn't help myself. I knew it was the last time for a while that I would need to worry about how to factor an equation or how to figure out what x equals. Despite all my efforts, I only got a C on the final. But you know what? I don't really care. Because I pulled at least a B+ in the class, maybe an A- if I'm lucky. And for not having taken a real math class for three years, I'd say that's pretty darn good. Especially considering the pace we took for this class. It was Beginning and Intermediate Algebra all crammed into ten weeks. My brain was literally at the limits of what it could learn during this time, especially during the last chapter, where I'm not sure if I learned a single lasting concept. But oh well, it's over!

Friday I had the joy of going to Eric and Jenn's to watch their kids while they were at an appointment. I joined Jenn and the kids for a wonderful lunch of a steak and cheese burrito while the kids had hot dogs and Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets (it really was delish, I promise). After a heart-wrenching goodbye, Sadie was lugged up to bed for her nap, and shortly thereafter Eric and Jenn left, leaving me in charge, with Carter as my assistant. We started off upstairs where we played with some awesome cars, built a toy car, motorcycle, and prop plane. Carter and I pretended we were playing a video game where we were racing cars.

I was determined to solidify my spot as the favorite uncle, so after playing for a bit, we went downstairs to make chocolate chip cookies. Carter and Molly were excellent helpers adding the ingredients and helping mix the batter. The cookies turned out quite good, if I do say so myself :) I believe my efforts paid off, because Molly could hardly allow herself to be more than three feet away from me for the rest of the night.

A little while after Eric and Jenn got back, we went out to dinner at Jason's Deli, a first for me. I had a very good Corned Beef and Pastrami sandwich. After that little adventure, we went back to the house and played a little bit of 1 vs 1oo on xbox live. I stayed a little later than I would have liked playing video games, causing me to have a strong desire to sleep in the next day, which I did since it was Saturday. The whole experience was great, and Eric and Jenn's kids are so good that it really wasn't babysitting for me, it was just hanging out with my adorable niece and nephew. Plus I got free dinner out of it. How could it be any better?

>> Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Well, not really. Just needed a catchy title so as to redirect you to the poll on the side of the page now. I figure I'll let this one run until the end of the month to see how many (few) people actually read this thing.

As an aside, I've been reading a surprising amount of short stories online lately, and I've been curious to see if I could pull one off myself. I've posted little bits of fiction on here before, but nothing with a concrete idea behind it. Perhaps for inspiration I'll go to Starbucks with my laptop and sit there for three hours wearing glasses and looking artsy. Although I'd need a Mac to pull that off...

Anyway, I've moved out of Mike and Jen's apartment. I'm sure they are rejoicing that I am finally gone. I'm in a place called Winter Haven, which is real close to UVU campus. I could walk to class if I felt so inclined. I bought off someone's contract, which is why I was able to move in mid-semester. This means that the contract is up mid-August, when the semester ends. It's kind of nice, because it means I get sort of a trial of the place before I commit to something more long term. So far it's not bad. I've mentioned this to a couple people already, but none of my roommates had really spoken to me except one I trapped while he was watching tv. Since I've told people that, I've actually had conversations with a few of the guys. So turns out I don't have a bunch of jerk roommates. Thank goodness.

Oh, speaking of roommates, the missionaries stopped by earlier today looking for one of my roomies. Turns out he was studying with them, then had some personal things come up and hasn't had a chance to meet with them for a bit. Kinda cool.

My Algebra class is coming to a close, and we are running a tad bit behind based on the schedule. Because of that, I have a test to take tomorrow, a take-home test to complete by Monday, then the comprehensive final comes on Monday as well. Yikes. Hope my brain doesn't explode in the next few days.

Another sad thing of note: I realized the other day that I have yet to go on a date since moving down here. Isn't that the saddest thing ever? Two whole months since I've taken a girl out. If I'm not careful, my skillz might get rusty. I best stake out a spot at Starbucks before all the seats are gone. Until next time, keep...doing the things you like.

>> Wednesday, June 17, 2009

I've recently started to run again. After hitting 205 it was finally time to get back in the habit. My idea is that I need to get and stay in shape until I at least get married at some undetermined time. After that, I can can plump up and stop working out entirely.

Anyway, it's been pretty painful, but at least it hasn't been as painful as this guy:Yikes. I certainly hope it never gets that bad for me. Although I do plan on running at least one 5k before the summer is over, so let's all hope I'm over chaffing by then.

>> Thursday, May 28, 2009

It started as a simple suggestion by Mike for a Memorial Day activity. I then invited Eric to come along since he couldn't come down the day previous. Some time between that and the beginning of the hike of Y Mountain, it turned into a Bennett Family Excursion, where Mike and I happen to come along. Still trying to figure that one out.

At any rate, after listening to a fairly detailed explanation of the Y taken from Wikipedia by (Matt?), being handed about a dozen rocks from Sadie, a psychological analysis of Spock and why he has no emotion (the conclusion of which somehow came to "His only loyalty is to your entertainment"), lugging Sadie up only one of the switchbacks and nearly dying, listening to Carter ask "Have we gone 98 meters yet?" a dozen or so times until finally responding to him, seeing Molly's response to Mike's answer as to why his head was wet (a raincloud came and dumped on him and left just before Molly came up to him), and roughly one mile of hiking uphill, we came to the bottom of the Y. Mike basically told me that if I didn't hike to the top of the Y, I wasn't a real man. So I acquiesced.

What he "neglected to tell me" is that the section from the bottom to the top of the Y totally sucks. Like, it is as bad as the entirety of the hike up to that point. After much huffing and minor feelings of nausea, we got to the top and staked out a spot at the ledge. The rest of our group arrived shortly thereafter. Eric whipped out two things at that point. One, the camera:Sadie seems rather perturbed that the camera isn't focused solely on her.Pretty much the whole crew that was there.

Two, Strawberry Peanut Butter M&Ms. It sounds a little disturbing, but are actually rather delish. They are a tie-in to Transformers 2. I speculated why there weren't Autobot and Decepticon icons printed on the candies themselves. We decided that if the candy were in the movie itself, it would probably make the movie suck less than it inevitably will. We went down the mountain with few significant events, and Mike and I finished the day off by going to a pizza buffet, effectively negating all the exercise we had done that day. I weighed myself the next day and I had actually lost about two pounds from the days activities. I was rather happy with myself.

Also, today Ben came down for some business stuff and we went out to dinner to catch up. Ben really wanted to go to Tucanos (I did not object), a Brazilian grill where they come to your table with 12-18 different meats (depending on the time of day) over the course of your meal and offer you all you want. It comes with an amazing salad bar that included cinnamon-sugar covered bananas. Yummy. It's all unbelievably good, and if you get the chance to go to one, do not hesitate. My three favorite meats were the Tri-Tip, a teriyaki-beef (it's like the best tasting, most tender jerky ever), and fillet mignon wrapped in bacon. The pork loin was really good, too. Oh, and did I mention the cinnamon-glazed, grilled pineapple? Mmmmm.... After we finished, both of us felt like we were going to burst, so we took a walk around the shopping center before we got in our cars to head home. I weighed myself after I got back, and I definitely gained the pounds back I lost from my hike. But you know what? It was totally worth it.

>> Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sadly, I did not meet anyone to fall in love with and ultimately kill. Sorry for the spoiler. Anyway, I went to the laundromat for the first time in a year today. Gosh I hate those places. There was actually a dearth of people there today, which was very nice. I got in and out whilst only having to see one other persons underthings tumbling. Also, if you have not watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog yet, I suggest you do so quickly.

>> Wednesday, May 13, 2009

I decided to take a post idea from a friends blog, that of going to your picture file, going to the sixth file, and choosing the sixth image to post and explain. I figured it would be pretty interesting considering some of the pictures I have on my computer. Turns out I was wrong.This is a picture from when I went with my parents to Havasupai, near the Grand Canyon. And of all the pictures I have of it, this is easily one of the most dull. This shows a part of the switchbacks that took up the first mile or so of the hike down. It wasn't bad a bad part of the hike, with two exceptions. One: The horse caravans you see there don't stop. Period. So it's pretty much leap out of their way as soon as you can, or get trampled. Two: Hiking back up this while you are about to poop your pants is very uncomfortable. On the plus side, that motivated me to get done with this section very, very quickly. Huh, that turned out to be a better post than I expected.
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>> Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Here's a synopsis of my first day in Utah:

I got up around 9:45, got ready, and went to the bookstore to purchase my books for the semester. I only picked up three of them for now, since I won't need the fourth until next block, about seven weeks from now. Mike is doing a couple online classes, so he was there too. We get there, and the bookstore had maybe four or five other people in it. I'm used to BYU-I bookstore, where two days before a semester starts, it's pretty much packed with nearly every student and their moms for the entire day. That mean cramped aisles and very, very long lines. Depending on when you went, it wasn't uncommon to have to wait for 20-30 minutes to make your purchases. So it blew me away to go to the UVU bookstore and be able to freely walk anywhere I wanted with ease, not to mention going straight to checkout.

After we finished, Mike and I came home and got ready for the big event of the day: having a race to see who could beat The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the fastest. Years ago, Mike and his friends had beaten the game in around 12 hours, so we expected to be able to do it in 10-12 as well.Looks intimidating, doesn't it? This was the better of the ideas we had for video games for when I moved down. We had originally planned to play through all four 3D Zelda's in 48 hours, a feat some online gamers could not complete a while ago. Ultimately, though, we decided that we didn't have the willpower to do anything of that magnitude, and settled on racing on the Zelda game we both know best. I had some ambitious ideas on how to speed through the game, which didn't come to fruition. The only real shortcut I used was near the end, and I learned that from a speedrun I watched online. I ended up winning, with a final time of 8 hours, 20 minutes and 33 seconds. And yes, that was played straight through. Having done that, Mike and I agree that the 48 hr Zelda challenge is definitely doable. By the time I finished, it was about seven thirty, so we ordered pizza and then played Jenga and practiced throwing cards into a basket because we didn't have a cowboy hat handy. Afterward we chatted for a while and then went to bed around midnight. And thus ended my first day!

I still don't like Utah water, and it will take me a while to get adjusted to drinking it. I'm not terribly looking forward to when it becomes full blown summer down here, because I don't do well in the heat. Although that may help me sweat some pounds off, which I could desperately do with losing.

I'm excited to start school again, but also a bit worried, because it's been a long time since I've had to worry about homework, and I'm not sure how well my psyche will adjust to that again. Oh, and I hate that textbooks cost so much. I think they should have iPod Touch versions of them at a reduced rate. That would rock my socks.

>> Tuesday, April 21, 2009

>> Thursday, April 16, 2009

I was going to celebrate with my brother and sister-in-law, but alas I was too slow. Suffice it to say, I'm moving to Utah. Finally. Yes, yes, I know. I've been saying it for over six months now. But it's actually happening this time. I'm already accepted at UVU, and am working out the last kinks of registration. I will be living at Mike's place, so I don't have to worry about housing for a few months.

It's rather nerve-wracking, really. I've been having to stress about something for the first time in a long time. I'm the sort of person where once I'm done with work, I leave it there. That makes doing homework remarkably difficult for me.

Now that spring is mostly sprung and summer will be coming quickly, it's time for cool treats again. It has almost become a weekly ritual for me to be at Sub Zero, perhaps mostly because it seems like the only time I get to talk to Ben anymore. But I've recently revisited an old friend:

A Grande (medium, 16 oz in non-elitist terms) will run you 350 calories. It is wonderfully worth it, trust me. And as an added plus, you get to look hip by going into Starbucks. If you are in to that. If not, go get one anyway because they are a tasty treat that will leave you craving more.

>> Wednesday, April 1, 2009

This picture does not accurately show how amazing this sandwich really is. It is the Tendercrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch sandwich from Burger King. Doesn't that just scream deliciousness and chicken heartstopper? Anyway, the real reason I posted this picture (it's truly tragic the picture didn't turn out as well as I hoped) is for the cheese. I kid you not, the stuff was radioactive, neon orange. I'm living under the assumption that it was some sort of April Fools Day joke by the company. I shudder to think of the other possibilities. Some of you may be thinking, "Steve, what possesses you to eat radioactive orange cheese? The answer is simply this: It is DELISH. Also, Burger King has the most tasty of all fast food fries. Discuss.

I sometimes go to great lengths to get the result I want. For instance, my phone, which provided the fantastic above image, uses Memory Stick Micro, which I purchased separate from the phone, It came with a Memory Stick Pro Duo adapter, which my computer does not read. So I had to buy an adapter for that. So it's a Memory Stick Micro in the Memory Stick Pro Duo Adapter in a Memory Stick Duo Adapter. Ultimately, it is Sony's fault, because all the formats of their proprietary Memory Stick are as follows, going from smallest to largest: Memory Stick Micro, Memory Stick Pro Duo, Memory Stick Pro/Memory Stick Duo(basically the same size), and finally the original Memory Stick. What this translates to is a monumental waste of money for both them and the consumer, constantly having to buy a new memory format for their newest Sony devices. Sony noticed that they were wasting their money, so on average it costs $15 dollars more for a Memory Stick than a comparably sized SD card. Thank goodness for Ebay. If I weren't so in love with Sony Ericsson phones, I would boycott the company.

>> Monday, March 30, 2009

I spend like twenty minutes putting up a new post, and I minimize scribefire and what happens? It deletes the whole freaking thing. I had text in there for like five months and it never removes it. But when I actually have something in there I want to post? IT DELETES IT. Once I'm done weeping, I'll consider posting it back up.

>> Tuesday, February 10, 2009

>> Monday, February 2, 2009

I have an propensity to buy sexy electronics that I don't need. Behold the Arc!

I've never been a fan of the standard mouse that comes with a PC. They are clunky, loud, and most detrimentally, ugly. Even worse is the compact laptop mouse. While you gain ultra-portability, you sacrifice your hands to carpal tunnel if you use the thing for more than three minutes. The Arc harnesses those weaknesses and, like a pearl-producing-oyster, takes the unpolished, worthless rock and turns it into something magnificent.

First, the Arc takes the nearly-full-size form factor, removes all the unnecessary bulk, cheap plastic, and loud performance. It is replaced with a gorgeous, well...arc shape that provides the bare necessity of form while not sacrificing comfort. It has a wonderful satin-type finish that is superbly smooth to the touch providing just enough grip for easy movement and precise selection. Microsoft opted for a scroll-wheel with a light click sound, and while this is not a bad thing, the writer prefers a silent wheel more prominent on computer mice these days.

Microsoft has finally opted for a smaller USB receiver which will protrude from your computer roughly 1/2 inch. While this is not as small as some Logitech receivers, it is definitely a step in the right direction. Users will find that the Arc USB receiver connects to the inside form of the mouse via magnetics, albeit weakly. While the mouse is closed, though, the worries of lost receivers is put to rest as the folding action of the mouse secures the receiver against the opposite wall inside the arc.

The most distinct feature of the device other than it's shape is it's ability to reduce itself in size. The reduction of excess plastics in the design has enabled the Arc to reduce itself in size, while folded, to just 60 percent of expanded size claims Microsoft's website. This makes the device remarkably portable, and you will be amazed when you hold the folded form in your hand and see how easily it slips into a jacket pocket, carrying case, or backpack (for you college students out there). The Arc has a sturdy metal hinge, so you don't need to worry about breaking it after repeated use.

For those used to a compact mouse, the size may be a little unfamiliar at first, but you will quickly adjust. There is a small button on the left of the mouse for use with different functionality. It very close the front of the mouse, making frequent use inconvenient. The biggest learning, ahem, curve is the placement of the laser. Since it is placed so close to the front footpads of the mouse, the user can no longer twist the back of the mouse to move the cursor side to side. While this is by no means a deal breaker, a beginning user may find themselves wondering why the mouse doesn't seem as responsive as another mouse. Which brings me to my next point:

This mouse is fast. The first time you plug it in, you will probably need to go into the control panel immediately to adjust the speed to make the thing usable. That speed, though , is presumably because it is intended for on-the-go computing where you may not have much space for mouse maneuvering. All in all, I give the mouse a 4.5/5. I take a half point off due to the lack of four-way scrolling, poorly placed side button and only having one side button, to boot.

If you are just looking for a sturdy, slightly more featured, less sexy mouse, I would recommend the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Laser Mouse 7000, which has a comfortable, familiar feel, two side buttons for multiple functions, and four-way scrolling.

>> Saturday, January 17, 2009

>> Wednesday, January 7, 2009

He held her, not wanting to let go. That day he was fortunate, for she held the embrace as well. It was a cool afternoon, nearing evening, and the shadows of the trees criss-crossed their bodies as small leaves fluttered to the ground around them. The man desperately wanted to kiss her, and her warm body did nothing to discourage the thought. She pulled away slightly, just enough to look into his eyes. 'Just like she did' he thought to himself.

'Alice had those eyes. She had that beautiful hair and that perfect height where she fit nicely under my chin when I held her.' The thoughts were stirring in his head again, and he fought to push them back. Ella reminded the man of Alice. So much so that he sometimes caught himself just before he called Ella by the wrong name. It was really what drove him to where he had gotten with Ella. He saw what he had missed after Alice was gone, what he wanted so desperately and had been denied. It blinded him and he knew it, but the pull was too strong for him to resist.

He leaned closer, savoring the moment. It would have been a perfectly picturesque moment had it not been for the cars and cigarette butts littering the parking lot. The man paused near Ella's face, so close that their noses brushed. "Is it really that hard to do?" she whispered. He inhaled, and smirked that half-smirk he was so well known for...